Framed In Negatives: Spring Studio

May 3, 2017June 22, 2017

San Francisco, California, 2017 | Canon AE-1, Kodak Tri-X 400

Spring has been a balance of spending time in the darkroom and the studio. As the semester draws to a close, and I’m off packing my life for the nth time while managing my finals (just so I could leave a week earlier before class ends), I’ll give you a quick rundown of what the semester has been like for me in terms of artistic growth and my work.

From prints to sculptures, I’ve been delving into different media with my work. I never imagined how I can translate my two dimensional pieces to three dimensional sculptures and making tangible photographic prints of my negatives. Even though it’s a far cry from my illustrative career, I’ve learned a lot in terms of handling different tools, subjects and conceptual thinking. The process is entirely different from making paintings to creating sculpture and shooting scenes. I do miss painting, but seeing as most of my summer will be filled with working on a new illustration project, I can’t complain for having an entire semester off of it. In fact, I’m praising the Universe for the momentary break.

With sculpture, planning meticulously and taking note of dimensions and how the piece will exist in space is something that’s as important as the work itself. With my illustrations, I never had to think twice about it and it’s something that really challenged me when I shifted my work from 2D to 3D.

Despite being a photography enthusiast (as all we, millennials, are), I never really read too much into image framing and composition with regards to the subject or scene that I’m shooting. I simply capture moments of interest and magic that calls out to me personally. If I like something visually, I shoot it. End of story. But framing images and thinking of what the first thing the audience will be drawn to in the photo is something else entirely.

In a nutshell, I’m pretty glad that I took these classes this semester and thankful for the mentors that taught me to go beyond the limits and space to show my works and process.